Biometals 2010 is an international conference devoted to the importance of metals in biology. For scientists studying the numerous biological aspects of metal handling, it serves as a platform to integrate findings from various fields. The particular strength of this meeting is the participation of a diverse international community who work at the cutting edge of their fields on a variety of different metals. This aspect is important due to the strong interplay and overlap of intracellular metal handling systems, which is not addressed in other meetings that are focused on particular subsets of metals or metal handling systems. New research directions are expected to result. The timing of this conference is crucial since significant progress has been made in areas such as genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics to justify dramatic advances in the understanding of the role and toxicity of various metals. An interdisciplinary approach is necessary to enable rapid meaningful advances to understand the role of metals in health and toxicity. Approximately 200 researchers are expected to attend the 4 day conference. In addition to 40- to 30-minute talks by established investigators, 14- to 15-minute presentations by early career scientists (graduate students and post-doctoral researchers) are planned. Two poster sessions are also scheduled, which will also give graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and other interested individuals a chance to present their work and interact with senior researchers. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Biometals 2010 is an international conference devoted to the importance of metals in biology. For scientists studying the numerous biological aspects of metal handling, it serves as a platform to integrate the findings from various fields to understand the role of metals in health and toxicity.